About Alan Bissett

Alan Bissett is a novelist, playwright and performer from Falkirk, who now lives in Glasgow. His plays, novels and short films have won numerous awards, including a Scottish BAFTA and the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Writer of the Year 2012. His YouTube poem 'Vote Britain' has become one of the key texts in the Scottish independence movement.
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There are 4 comments

I love your novels Alan, but please stop writing such dirges about independence. It’s really, really boring and it makes your writing seem childish and glib. I’m not that bothered about independence one way or the other, but your caricature of those who disagree with you makes you appear intolerant and does your cause no good.

I appreciate your honesty, Peter S, but I hardly think you can call this caricature. These are words that come from the mouths of unionists on a regular basis. The Tories really don’t want to lose the Empire; Labour really do want to beat the SNP; many people really did enjoy the Olympics. These aren’t caricatured positions. Unionists would tell you these things themselves. All I’ve done is simply lay some anti-independence arguments side by side and then suggested that none of them are, in any way, putting forward hope for a better future. Straightforward enough. That you call a simple list of anti-independence slogans a ‘dirge’ says it all about the unionist position, quite frankly.

And while I’m glad you love my novels, and thank you for saying so, I can
hardly remain silent on what is the single greatest political issue Scotland
has faced for 300 years. I’m sorry, but I have children in my life that I want
a better future for and I’m going to fight for it. That you’re ‘not bothered
one way or the other’ surprises me. And to suggest that scepticism about the
Unionist position is ‘intolerance’ when daily, in every newspaper and on every
news channel, they attack the independence movement – a social justice movement – with incredible vehemence is, I’d suggest, a rather selective reading you’ve made. I can only infer that you believe that when Alasdair Darling goes on the offensive he too is being ‘intolerant’.

I like this too – I rather think lan says it as it is. All those sentiments I have heard over the last months and I have spent time discussing and arguing the point for independence with almost all the people mentioned, Maybe not a “laird” and i dont know any Archbishops…. but pretty much the rest of the list. Am not yet an old woman (although not far off sigh) and my blogs show that Im going nowhere in silence but it the hope of a better country that drives me too.

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